Monday, August 25, 2014

Research Project Topic Selection

Here are the parameters for your first post. Remember topics should be unique, so be sure to read through the responses before yours both to add to your understand of the project's concept and also to determine if your topic has already been selected.

If you are unable to sufficiently answer these questions, you may have to chose an alternative topic. If you're feeling stuck, refer to the project handout for possible topics. Also, Mrs. Binney & Ms. Hancock's classes are working on the same project. Feel free to refer to these teachers' websites & blogs for more inspiration.

1. Briefly summarize your topic. How does it capture the concept of cultural hysteria?

2. In addition to the provided research questions, what questions will you ask when researching this topic? What else intrigues you about your topic?3. Describe your research process. Where will you begin? What types of sources will you use? What are the criteria for choosing and evaluating the quality of those sources? If you get stuck, how might you refine or narrow your search for information or sources related to this topic?

21 comments:

1.)My topic is the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, and how everyone from different country are afraid of traveling to West Africa for business trip. Also people are afraid that the disease will contract to them, and that Ebola is a new disease that was newly discovered which doctors do not have an antibiotic to cure for Ebola. Nevertheless even people in the United States of America are afraid that the disease will come to America infected everyone and people are ending up devolving hypochondria.

2.) Next some of the many questions would have to be how did Ebola form? How is Ebola transmitted? What are the chances of getting cure from Ebola? What has the national health service corp or other major health company do to contain the outbreak of Ebola?, and last What will the government do to aid West Africa with Ebola?.

3.)Finally I will begin my research at CNN news or USA today because the news gives us the date, time, and how many people are affect from the disease. While CNN tells their option on the situation , but they are the ones who cover Ebola the most and if you type Ebola to the URL than CNN will pops up the most and the website updates every day. If I get stuck on a topic I'll go to the history department and ask them on their option on Ebola and where I could go online to find information.

1. My topic is the Duluth Air Base Intruder, during the Cuban missile Crisis, there was an intruder at an air base Minnesota, a guard saw and raised an alarm. if someone sets off an alarm, other bases alarms will activate. One of the alarms at another base was wired wrong, and instead of sounding an alarm for an intruder, it told the base that Russia launched nuclear missiles, and planes with nuclear warheads were preparing to attack Russia. The radio tower was told three minutes after the planes left that it was a false alarm and that Russia didn't launch anything. The intruder was a bear.

2. What would have happened if those planes made it successfully to Russia? Who else would have gotten hurt in the blasts and perhaps have to join the "war" if the planes would have gotten there before they were told it was fake?

3. lots of research on nuclear wars, like Hiroshima, psychologically why people freak out over stuff like this. Look at the potential war we are faced with now between Russia and whoever comes near them.

1. My topic is Big Brother. Many people fear that the government and other companies working in tandem with the government are "spying" on all of the things that we do, say post etc. People often say that "Big Brother is Watching You..." when speaking about a persons privacy. Some people have taken this to an extreme and decided not to use things such as social media and certain websites due to a fear that every move that they make is being tracked and recorded for future reference.

2. Are websites such as Google and Facebook a part of this? If we really are being tracked and our actions are being recorded, what is the reason, does someone plan to use this information against us if we are to ever break the law? What companies that we know and love are responsible for partaking in this?

3. For research I could look at some things such as certain websites and social media terms of service and see if there is anything of the sort hidden within the length pages that people agree to without even reading. I can look for evidence and events that have shown this to be true such as previous complaints, cases of people feeling that their privacy is invaded etc.

1. My topic is the Goldsboro B-52 crash. In 1961 a B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs flying over North Carolina. The plane suddenly broke up and the two nuclear bombs plummeted towards Goldsboro North Carolina. Luckily the safety mechanisms did their job averting a nation and possibly global wide catastrophe. Three men in the plane died and five men successfully ejected and survived.

2.Some questions that have arose from this incident are, what would have happened if the bombs had gone off? How different would America be if the bombs exploded? How close were the bombs to detonating?

3, To begin my research I will start with finding news stories on it and what accounts they tell. Then find out what the internet has to say about it determining how reliable the sources are. There are many sources of research on this topic leaving no shortage of information regarding the Goldsboro incident.

1- My topic is going to be America after 9/11. On September 11, 2001 four American Airline planes were highjacked by terrorists. Two planes hit the twin towers killing thousands. The third plane hit part of the Pentagon and the last plane was taken down due to civilian interference.

2- Some questions Americans started asking after this incident were, Are all middle easterners terrorists? Can we trust Middle Easterners in our country? Is this the beginning to a war?

3- To start my research I'm going to find news articles talking about violence toward foreigners, epically people from the middle east. I will also read articles on what our military did after 9/11

1- My topic is going to be the Apocalypse. Many Americans believe that the apocalypse is coming and some of them are preparing for it. Talk of the apocalypse has been going on since the 50's and it is still in full effect to this day.

2- Some questions that can be asked about this are, When will this happen? How will it happen? Who all will be affected?

3- To start my research i'm going to look at articles from the cold war era, and look at past interviews on the people who suspect the apocalypse is coming.

1.) For my topic I choose to do school bullying and violence. So many kids go to school everyday with the fear of being bullied. Bullying is something that happens everyday in every school.

2.) How can it be prevented? What causes bullying? How would the bully feel is he was bullied?

3.) For my research I would look at articles about how bullying is affecting school and how they are trying to prevent it. I will also look at interviews of students who have been bullied and how it made them feel.

1. My topic is going to be racism. There have been numerous riots and controversies over racism in America. A current example of this is what is happening in Ferguson. Racism is a very controversial topic with many different views.

2. Some questions about this topic are, who is mainly effected by racism? How can you tell if an incident is because of racism?

3. For my research I will be using a lot of past news articles including everything happening in Ferguson. Also I will use famous historical events to help guide me.

1. The topic that I chose to do was school bullying and violence. A lot of kids that are bullied dread going to school because they don't want to get made fun and they wish they were a normal kid. Bullying can lead to depression or suicide and it happens every day.

2. Some questions that I have for my topic would be, how do we stop it from happening? Why don't we take charge and tell the bully to stop?

3. For my research I will look at some articles on how bullying affects people and how we can try to stop it. Also I will look at graphs showing how many people get bullied daily and how it affects there life's.

1-My topic is going to be on the anxiety some people experience in relation to the fear of failure that plagues many Americans presently. Many of us are expected to succeed no matter the difficulty, whether it is in sports or school, which is a base cause for the fear experienced by students at the thought of failure.2-Some questions I hope to answer during mu research are: Why do we experience this fear and is it treatable by base psychiatric methods? Presently I am interested in how psychiatric experts deal with this problem and how their methods differ from one another.3-Typically I start my research with specific knowledgeable websites containing both the positive and negative aspects of a specific topic. Sometimes I will find articles in either a newspaper or magazine pertaining to said topic. However, my main facet of knowledge will probably come from my uncle who is a psychiatrist and deals with these problems constantly.

1.) For my research project I have decided to engage in the topic of Population Growth. I will go in depth with both perspectives, whether the growth of our species is good, or if the rapid consumption of materials and recourses will doom our world. This “issue” has caused mass panic worldwide; American’s concerned about a lack of food and materials our extreme consumer country “requires”. India in a frenzy to prevent the rapidly growing slums from engulfing their new country. I will personally try to decide whether or not this influx of growth is all just false hype or if there is a reason worry about population.

2.) A few of the quandaries I will try to answer in this project is…a. As a world what is our carrying capacity for the human race? What are things we as a human race can do to increase that number?b. With improvements in medicine and nutrition creating a higher life expectancy will the overpopulation create life not worth living?c. Where are the hotspots for rapid population growth?d. Can improved contraception lower population growth in India slow down?e. How long can we stay in this trend of rapidly using resources and polluting the earth before our population begins to die off?

3.) My goal for research is to first determine what first sparked such rapid growth in our population. I would then like to investigate the areas where population growth is seen more than anywhere else and determine what made them fall into this pattern. I would then travel to the places where recourses are being over used or wasted and deduce what created these habits and if there is any way to break them. For the majority of my research I will be using a Time magazine titled “Population of 7 Billion” as well as many articles used in the history department at Arapahoe. I will also be sure to make the paper as modern as possible by following the topic on CNN and other news stations. The biggest issue of researching topics that are so two sided such as this, is being able to find an article that is not biased on one side or the other. I will combat this by including articles in my research from both sides. With this being such a largely discussed topic the chance of running out of ideas is very unlikely; however if I do find my self stuck I will narrow my research by focusing on how to prevent further growth and harm.

1. My topic is going to be paranoia, which some and most people have when they are prone to fear and spiritual thinking. Many of us today and through history have had encounters of paranoia which causes you to be fearful about things that are often over thought. For example, say you get bit by a spider in bed two times during one week and you have never gotten bit. Your mind suddenly would jump to the conclusion, "they are out to get me" and therefor you have some feelings of paranoia. 2. Some questions I would like to research and understand is: Why do we experience paranoia? Can paranoia be a good thing/ sign in life to be aware?. At my stand point I am very interested to be enlightened on why sometimes our mind thinks this way and how we can control it so it doesn't effect us in a negative way.3. Usually, I would start off with basic researching so I can have a proper understanding about my topic, Paranoia. Most likely while I am researching I will click on different links that appeal to my eye that sounds interesting. However, my main facet of knowledge will come from myself because I usually have paranoia for odd reasons but explainable to understand myself.

1. My topic is going to be racism. In the US there have been many riots and problems with racism. Ever since the 9/11 attack many are constantly afraid in the US. Also in Ferguson, African Americans feel mistreated.

2. Some other questions that I will try to answer is, who can stop all of this racism? Is it something we can stop? Who is mainly being targeted in our racism?

3. For my research, I will use historical events, also I will read news articles on the Muslims in the US, and also do more research on Ferguson.

Many people, after 9/11, are concerned with our nation's security. My research topic will be about the paranoia of flying after September 11th. A lot of people have common concerns with flying, and they are afraid to travel.

As time passes, is the fear diminished?Can an event like 9/11 happen again?What can security do to make people feel more safe?

For my analysis, I will choose reliable sources that explain both positions of this topic. Also, I can interview people that I know that have this paranoia. I plan to research related articles and magazines to identify fears that contribute to this paranoia.

1. The War of the Worlds is a feature episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the radio. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel of the same name. This broadcast captures the concept of mass history because it actually convinced many people that aliens were attacking Great Britain.

2. Some questions I may ask about my topic is: Why did people believe that that such a fictional story could be real? How many people did this radio broadcast fool? What did Welles do to convince all these people that martians were attacking? Something else that intrigues me about this topic is that nobody realized this act was pure sci-fi based on the book by H.G. Wells.

3. i will most likely start my research by listening to the original broadcast of War of the Worlds. I will dissect it and find out what made this show so convincing in the eyes of the public. I will visit some credible websites that are based of the broadcast and read some snippets from the actual novel War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

1. My topic is going to be how the media communicates information to the public. Media is a big thing in all of our lives. I think how media puts out the information reflects cultural hysteria because of how we repsond. The amount of contoversey that comes from the media is unreal. However, it is because media is apart of our everyday life, as soon as somehting happens, boom its on the news.2. I think mostly im curious about how media miscommunicates the facts. Whats wrong with saying whats going on, but not trying to fill in blanks? We want news, but we want the right news. How can they do a better job communicating? It doesnt matter what the media says people will for their own ideas. However its hard to form an opinion when you dont know. Its like trying to pick your favorite color in a black and white world. Would controvesey about some topics change? I am not naive, probably not but you wonder..3. I think this topic has a lot of options for sources. I think theres alot if different types of people out there that have an opinion, like reporters, detectives, authors. Media is apart of our cultural, and I am sure lots of different people have opinions.

1. My topic is going to be 9/11 and how it effected us as americans. On september 9, 2001 four american planes were hijacked by terrorist. The first two hit the world trade center. The third plane hit the pentagon. And the fourth plane was going for the White house but crashed in a field.2. Some questions we could of had after this event was, Who did this? DOes this mean were going into war? What was the objective behind this?3. To start my research I will watch shows on this and read articles about 9/11. I could even talk to some survivors to get go research of what they saw.

I will do My research on 9/11 and the impact it had on the American Society. And how it Made the U.S population stronger as a nation.2. I would Like to Know why the Taliban did what they did and why didnt the President stop the threat before.3 I will watch and listen to old broadcasts Read old articles and Also read the first hand accounts of those who survived.

I will do my research on racism and more specifically in Ferguson and how the protests in Ferguson are affecting people around the world.2. I would like to know why the police think it is right to kill these citizens and what the protesters. What do they want? How would they get what they want when the killings have already happened.3. I will keep up to date with news channels because it is a very hot topic right now in America and also I am going to research background information about how this mayhem started.

1. I will do my research on homophobia and how people treat them as well as ignore the fact that the discrimination against them does in fact still exist.

2. I want to know what is going through peoples heads when they think that homosexuals will 'taint' their children and effect their everyday lives. Why do they think that it's okay to talk to other human beings as if they were personally offended?

3. I myself am a reliable source as I've been subjected to the discrimination by my own family as well as other people. I will also look up old and new news articles and see what other cases there are of this discrimination.

1. For my research project I have decided to do the epidemic of AIDS/HIV around the world. I already know from my back round knowledge that these viruses are a huge issue in Africa and surrounding countries. This is because they don't have the resources we do to keep it under control like we do. This problem is a cultural hysteria because it is always made out to sound worse than it is. Then people start to freak out and the scare starts there.

2. As i'm researching my topic I will be looking at the resources everyone uses to conquer these viruses and/or what they do to control the outbreak. Also I will be looking at the causes of the viruses and where they start and come from. This topic intrigues me because in America AIDS/HIV are more under control and not talked about as much as it is in other countries because of how out of control it is there.

3. During my research process I will try to find good and trusting websites to get my information from on Google. Seeing graphs and data can also help my research in seeing where every country stands with these viruses.